1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts, which engages electronic chip type parts on a printed circuit board constituting the circuit portion of electronic devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventionally varous chip type parts 1a through 1d shown in FIGS. 1(A) through 1(D) are supplied to a user in a tape shaped carrier having an adhesive tape backing 4 and base paper strip 3 having many part accommodating recesses 2 formed therein at equal distances as shown in FIG. 2. To mount the electronic parts from the carrier onto the circuit board, an automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts of a single head type as shown in FIG. 3 is generally employed.
In the automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts shown in FIG. 3, a plurality of parts cassettes 5, each having various electronic parts therein, is provided on a casing 10, and are adapted to be movable in a direction Z so that parts to be mounted may be selected from a certain cassette. In operation a mounting chuck 6 picks up electronic part positioned in its pick-up position, and a positioning pawl 7 positions by a positioning operation. Also, the mounting chuck 6 mounts the electronic parts on the print circuit board 9 which is positioned by an X-Y table 8 which is movable in two directions X and Y. However, in this mechanism, the mounting chuck 6 picks up the electronic part and the positioning pawl 7 positions it for the mounting operation, thus resulting in complicated operations. The parts cassette 5 and the X-Y table 8 are moved relative to the mounting chuck 6 to mount the parts on the printed circuit board 9 and thereafter return the desired cassette to allow pick up of the next electronic part, thus resulting in low mounting speed. Furthermore, one mounting chuck 6 cannot handle all the electronic parts in accordance with their size and type. Accordingly, an automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts for exclusive use for limited sizes of parts is necessary in accordance with the sizes and types of the electronic parts.
FIG. 4 shows a top-plan view of an automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts of the turntable type, which has an improved mounting speed. In this automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts, a plurality of parts cassettes 5 are adapted to be moved in the direction Z, as in the mounting apparatus of FIG. 3, for the choice of the mounting parts. The electronic parts are picked up by a positioning and mounting unit 12 in the position (A) and thereafter a turntable 11 rotates. In the position (B), the position and mounting unit 12 holding electronic parts by its pawls 12a through 12d determines the position and the mounting direction of the electronic parts, and, in the position (C), the mounting chuck 13 is adapted to place the electronic parts on the printed circuit board 9 on the X-Y table 8 to perform the mounting operation. According to this arrangement, each operation is simplified, the operation distance can be shortened, the turntable 11 is rotated, indexing in one direction, so that this apparatus has a faster mounting speed than the apparatus of FIG. 3. However, as the mounting chuck 13 is a single type, various kinds of electronic parts cannot be mounted because of changes in the size and type. Thus, an automatic apparatus for mounting electronic parts for exclusive use for limited sizes of parts is required in accordance with the type of each of the electronic parts.